Malmstrom airman honored for saving stabbed man

Senior Airman David Alley, 341st Operations Support Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, has been recognized for off-duty heroism after saving a man stabbed in Great Falls.(Photo: TRIBUNE PHOTO/KRISTEN INBODY)Buy Photo

David Alley probably will never know the man whose life he saved a year ago.

“Helping him out was more than enough for me,” he said.

Alley, a senior airman with the 341st Operations Support Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, is being recognized for his off-duty heroism.

Alley and his wife heard shouting and banging outside their Great Falls apartment. Outside he found a man bleeding heavily from an upper arm who was slumped against a neighbor’s door and leaning into a trash can.

Alley used a towel to put pressure on the man's stab wound while his wife called the police. Alley then grabbed a neighbor’s dog leash to use as a tourniquet, which he held tight until the police arrived.

Alley's role in the crisis was over in about 10 minutes, but those 10 minutes saved the man's life.

"Police told me he would have bled out if I hadn't done anything," he said. "Small moments make up everything in your life."

All airmen receive Self Aid and Buddy Care lifesaving training. Alley is a weatherman so he didn't expect he'd use the training too often, but "it's always valuable to learn a skill like that."

"They trained us so thoroughly I didn't have to second-guess myself," he said.

Alley, a Tennessee native, received the Air Force Global Strike Command's nomination for the 2018 Non Commissioned Officers Association Vanguard Award, which recognizes a non-commissioned officer from each of the military services who has performed a heroic act, on or off duty, which saved the life of another or prevented serious injury.

"It's surreal," he said. "I don't feel that what I did was heroic. I was just doing what I was trained to do — help someone."